such as I am, like me

[e2e4]

Originally Posted by stuartnz

(not a professional teacher) I would not normally use this word, but I would definitely say that in the context in which you used it, "twos" was simply wrong. It would almost certainly never be used by any native speaker, and I think that most native speakers would struggle to understand what it meant. A careful and detailed repeat reading of the passage would help bring the intended meaning to light, but if any phrase deserved the word "wrong", it would the use of "twos" in this utterly unnatural and nonstandard way. To any native speakers who parsed it correctly on the very first read, my hat is thoroughly doffed in awe of your perspicacity.

Would you please answer the same question I asked BobK.

Is this wrong use or not

We needed help so much.
But people were coming in twos or threes.
Suddenly a big group appeared.

[stuartnz]

Originally Posted by e2e4

Would you please answer the same question I asked BobK.

Is this wrong use or not

We needed help so much.
But people were coming in twos or threes.
Suddenly a big group appeared.

(not a professional teacher) That usage is completely normal, and very common.

[e2e4]

Originally Posted by stuartnz

(not a professional teacher) That usage is completely normal, and very common.

How came that the usage of twos and threes has suddenly become completelly normal and very common stuartnz?

[stuartnz]

Originally Posted by e2e4

How came that the usage of twos and threes has suddenly become completelly normal and very common stuartnz?

Because the context in which you're using it is very different to that in which I, and others, found it nearly incomprehensible.

[e2e4]

Originally Posted by e2e4

The one who told me such as=like probably though it could be too much for me to take care about the slight differences between them.
There is a very low probability for me to run into someone in the street who would point at the wrong use of the twos.

I really do not understand what is so utterly, unnatural and nonstandard in this example except it hasn't been in use quite often.

[stuartnz]

Originally Posted by e2e4

I really do not understand what is so utterly, unnatural and nonstandard in this example except it hasn't been in use quite often.

"is it possible to exchange such as and like in the twos?" is a very different sentence to "people were coming in twos or threes."

In the first, the natural expression would be something like "in both sentences " or "in either sentence". If we accept that the purpose of language is to facilitate communication, then the simple truth is that, "is it possible to exchange such as and like in the twos?" fails to do so. I am not a professional teacher, but to me, that is what makes it unnatural and nonstandard. If someone said that to me on the street, my first reaction would be "what?" or 'I'm sorry, I don't understand", and I am confident that most native English speakers would react similarly.

[stuartnz]

Originally Posted by e2e4

There is a very low probability for me to run into someone in the street who would point at the wrong use of the twos and by me, a learner of english, and specially here in Bosnia.

That may be true in Bosnia, but I would say there is a very high probability that if you ran into a native English speaker on the streets of any city in which English was the majority language, they would point out that "twos" was wrong in that context.

In my own experience as a learner of languages I am always VERY grateful when native speakers correct me after hearing me make mistakes of this sort. Fortunately my Hindi-speaking and Spanish-speaking friends are more than happy to laugh good-naturedly at my clumsy errors and educate me as to what is natural and normal and what is not. So it is here. The use you made of "twos" is very unnatural in English, and the native speakers who've pointed this out have done so merely to help you.

[e2e4]

Once I heard that such as is exactly the same as like.

The learners such as I am always make mistakes.
A learner like me always makes mistakes.

Are these sentences both correct and
is it possible to exchange such as and like in the twos?


The one who told me such as=like probably though it could be too much for me to take care about the slight differences between them.
Anyway there is a very low probability for me to run into someone in the street who could point at the wrong use of the twos, here in Bosnia.


We needed help so much.
But people were coming in twos or threes.
Suddenly a big group appeared.


Natives will accustom themselves to this usage of twos with time. and not to the third usage only which one, to be honest, you've recently found in a dictionary.

[stuartnz]

Originally Posted by e2e4

and not to the third usage only which one, to be honest, you found in a dictionary recently.

Sorry, but I don't understand this at all. I'm going to opt out of this thread now and leave it to the professionals. When you've finished your campaign to persuade native spakers that their usage of their own language is in error, I'll introduce you to a man of La Mancha who might need a hand taming some aggressive windmills.

[e2e4]

Yeah the thing has gone little bit wrong.
wrong usage. ok.
I picked it up from a literature. I know the novel in which I saw it but I couldn't find it there again.

The novel isn't short and the word twos has been used only once I think.
My last post was rather joking then campaign.

And from whom to learn if not from natives, of course.
But arguing is my way of getting on a bit faster. That's all. Sometimes it looks like a bit rude. What to do?
And every forum is for arguing and not to keep my mouth shut.